Día de los Muertos Celebration

Burton Barr Central Library is holding a Día de los Muertos celebration on the second floor, by the Arizona Room, from October 6 through November 6. It's a month-long installation, so you've got plenty of time to swing by whenever you're downtown.

The center of the whole thing is a collection of community-created nichos—shadow-box tributes to people who've passed, whether they were a family member, a celebrity, or anyone else. Each one comes from a different community member and tells a personal story, and there's no single way to build them, so they're all different. Alongside the nichos, there's a community altar where you can write a message to a loved one, a community photo wall for wallet-sized photocopies, and papel picado and ofrendas dressing the room. It all comes back to the tradition of remembering family and friends who've passed.

If you're in the mood to explore more of the library, there's a scavenger hunt that leads to other displays around the building, with prizes to collect on the fifth floor. Between the nichos, the altar, and the hunt, it's a good excuse to spend a few hours in the stacks. The display runs from October 6 through November 6 on the second floor of Burton Barr in Phoenix.